Mobile Facilities

Pictured here in Gan, the second mobile facility is configured in a standard layout.

To explore science questions beyond those addressed by ARM's fixed sites at the Southern Great Plains, North Slope of Alaska, and Tropical Western Pacific locales, researchers can use an ARM Mobile Facility (AMF). With instrumentation and data systems similar to the fixed sites, the AMF is designed to operate in any environment—from the cold of the Arctic to the heat of the tropics—for campaigns lasting a minimum of 6 months. The first AMF (AMF1) was deployed in 2005; a second AMF (AMF2) made its maiden deployment in 2010. In fall of 2013, a third AMF (AMF3) joined the ARM Facility suite of capabilities.

Portability and flexibility are the keys to the design of the AMF that help ensure successful deployments. AMF1 consists of a minimum of two lightweight shelters, a baseline suite of instruments, data communications, and data systems. When applicable, an AMF will also be able to deploy in either an existing facility or other suitable shelters. Instrument capabilities include the standard meteorological instrumentation, broadband and spectral radiometer suite, and remote sensing instruments. With this suite of instruments, an AMF provides researchers with data from various climatic regimes not previously explored. The mobile facilities also have the capacity (space, power, and processing) to add additional instruments from guest scientists.